Forum

Stuart, there is absolutely no arrogance involved in what i am saying, I would say the same if any of the top clubs had taken the same actions. If you knew me at all you would no that i am in no way arrogant about being a member of downpatrick cricket club, Yes i am very proud to be captaining the club but dont mistake that for arrogance.

All I have to say on the matter is that our seconds stuffed cregagh seconds out of sight yesterday with captain danny carson finishing with 100 not out and figures of 4 for 12. What is that called again??? Karma possibly

I find this sad people arguing over points because of a sub fielder. The rules here are long overdue an overhaul because the whole spirit of the game is disappearing.

However I have said this to officials in the NCU and publicly that the decision to void a match over every incident and infringement however minor is ludicrous. It only punishes the winning team. Every single time this happens it causes someone else to walk away from the game.

NCU must be given the power to apply a range of punishments. A written warning outlining player responsibilities, a fine, a points deduction or voiding the match should be options rather than voiding the match for every infringement.

It is called 'common sense'. Unfortunately we don't see it very often.

Re Jeff,

I wasn't re-opening the issue that Dundrum and Armagh had last season, I was merely highlighting the controversies that substitute fielders can bring about in a game.

Taito,I do not intend to get into an ongoing debate about the sub fielder issue. My/the Club's points have been made. However,your last posting just reeks of the arrogant atttitude of some of the more established senior clubs and some of their players (including yourself) when dealing with the Section 3 and 4 clubs within the NCU. A glance at the NCU Fixture book will tell you that your club are now down to three senior teams the same as a number of Section 3 clubs including Cregagh.

Stuart , with ragards your last statement, i think you will find that the NCU took the action they did because you couldnt beat our seconds on the field so you decided to get the points by reporting us.

It is laughable, the rules were broken yes, but I can guarantee you that most other clubs would have had the sense to realise that this person fielding for 2 overs did not affect the game and they were well beaten on the day by a better side and not to have such sour grapes to take the petty action of reporting us.

Yet again I have to say enjoy the points, i think we have wasted enough of our time on Cregagh Cricket Club and their obvious desire to gain points from any means possible.

By the way these are my personal views and are in no way related to Downpatrick Cricket club

Im sorry to hear about the incident at cregagh - it is worrying the depth that some clubs will stoop to for just 4 points. At the end of the day if the captain agrees at the time then he should be honourable enough to stand by his decision. Seconds cricket is primarily for young lads to learn about the game and it is worrying what lesson has been learnt here!

I have to say that this whole episode doesnt suprise me due to some of the cregaghs senior players swearing at some of our young lads when playing there for the 3rds a few years ago

With regards to Mr Catterson I think that an open forum is exactly the place for this problem to be brought to light ,as it will bring the deserved shame upon your club and hopefully stop a repeat, well done you got the 4 points but at what cost to the reputation of the club in general

GARETH , as i said i would have gave u a sub but not my call Dundrum had fielded 100 overs in 2 days they offered too let your marker field+ u refused ( i still think they should have imo) but seeing your still unhappy lets say i had taken YOUR WORD on the saturday night when i got the call that THE MALL was UNPLAYABLE Dundrum been relagated but IT WAS MY DECISION too ring Ian Houston too say we would take the UMPIRES word if game was off& informed you that we would be travelling & lo & behold THE MALL was not perfect but definitly fit too host a game on a absolute superb venue so to say your unhappy with Dundrums decision ( i was to) well think how unhappy we would been if we had taken your decision to call of a game that too most was never in doubt & was played in not very good spirits by both sides. Armagh will always be welcome in Dundrum so hopefully you & Saintfield come back up & we get the chance too play again in the mall as its one off best grounds in the north.

colin, yeah i agree that we should have known about the rule, but it is fairly obvious that cregagh did know about the rule, and knew the player was a 1stXI player as we were practising at the time and they obviously knew as they reported it. So why agree to him fielding then? Was it part of the master plan to report us all along if they lost? If so it makes the actions even more dirty and sly.

What has happened to the spirit of the game?? how can they justify agreeing to the fielder and turning round and reporting us?? As i have said before if that is how they want to get points then they can take them. I hope whoever made the decision is happy with the points cause they wouldnt have beaten our guys if they had batted twice.

That is all i am saying on the matter

Why should it matter if he's a pro - Derriaghy still agreed that he could field then changed their mind when the result didnt go their way! Still pretty unsporting of them. People will make their own minds up as to the attitude of the clubs involved!

Re Dan.

Saintfield didn't not complain because they aren't that kind of club, they didn't complain because they won the match which is quite different in fairness. Getting away from the point there though.

Seems to have been a superb Graham Cup final this afternoon, well done to Waringstown and Holywood on what must have been a tremendous spectacle. The Lawn is certainly the place to be in underage cricket.

To Gareth: if you have grounds for your allegation regarding a player for our 2nds last Saturday I ,as Chairman of Cregagh CC, would welcome the details ,with evidence, in writing.That I believe is the more honourable way to conduct such business,not on a public forum.

As Chairman of Cregagh CC I would like to correct some of the misinformation placed onto the forum by earlier contributors regarding the ineligible sub fielder issue. On Tuesday night when the injury to the Downpatrick player occured Cregagh offered a sub fielder who actually went onto the pitch to help the home team. Downpatrick then decided not to accept the assistance but called on their own sub fielder who was practicing in the nearby nets (why-refuse the assistance: to gain an advantage of course).We were aware that he was an A starred player and pointed this out to at least two of the home team and that he was ineligible to participate.The response was 'that rule doesnt apply '. Are some contributors suggesting that it is the amount of involvement that the fielder has which determines if the rule should apply ie if he doesnt touch the ball it is OK but if a run out or catch occurs then that is unfair? You could apply the same logic to other situations eg unregistered players. I suggest (as has been commented on this forum before) that teams/captains acquaint themselves with the rules. Downpatrick - you broke the rules that is why the NCU took the action that they did.

Mark, good question and in the Derriaghy case that's exactly who sub fielded for CI

Gareth

Thats a bit rich seeing as one of your first team plays under two names, one being "Smith" for the seconds he even had a laugh about it at Saintfield last week. Is "Mr Smith" familiar to you. No one at Saintfield complained because they are not that sort of club.

Why does the NCU get blamed for the rulebook when it is the clubs that set the rules? The NCU administers the rulebook but the clubs set the rules at the AGM. Claiming a match over the status of a sub fielder sucks after having agreed to him in the first place so any club that does that has no sporting spirit at all. However, just a question, how would anyone feel if the sub fielder was the club pro? Would his status matter then?